Position in chronology
MCS 9, 240
About this tablet
An administrative receipt from the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300 BCE, recording a sizeable shipment of staples — barley measured by the capacity standard of Agade (the capital founded by Sargon), dried fish, salt, pig fat, straw, and 900 small brick-molds — removed from the city of Umma by a named scribe. It is a snapshot of how the Akkadian state moved bulk goods between provincial centers, with everything counted, dated, and signed off by a literate official.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Inventory of goods taken from Umma by the scribe Na'id-maḫ: 300 gur of barley (measured by the Agade standard), 90 gur of dried fish, 30 gur of salt, 40 jars of lard, 900 small brick-molds, and 40 gur of straw. Dated to the second year, seventh month. In short, a signed removal slip: one official collected a large mixed consignment of food, fuel for building work, and animal fodder from the city's stores, and the clerk logged exactly what left and when.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 5(gešʾ2) (= 300) gur of barley, (in the measure) of Agade, 2. 1(gešʾ2) 3(u) (= 90) gur of dried fish, 3. 3(u) (= 30) gur of salt, 4. 4(u) (= 40) jars of lard, 5. 1(gešʾu) 5(gešʾ2) (= 900) small brick-molds, 6. 4(u) (= 40) gur of straw — 7. (from) Umma, 8. Na'id-maḫ, the scribe, 9. took away. 10. Year 2, month 7(?).
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
5(gesz2@c) sze gur a-ga-de3 1(gesz2@c)# 3(u@c) ku6 had2 gur 3(u@c) mun gur 4(u@c) dug i3-szah2 1(gesz'u@c) 5(gesz2@c) u5-szub tur 4(u@c) in-u gur umma# na-id#-mah-ra-asz2 dub-sar-e ba-de6 2(disz@t) mu 7(disz@t)#? iti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MCS 9, 240. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (P215511) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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